Grate shaker



Aug. 4, 1925. 1,548,722

*N. M. LOWER GRATE SHAKER Filed July 13, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 1WITNESSESS INVENTOR BY m WWW ATTORNEYS Aug. 4, 1925.

N. M. LOWER GRAIE SHAKER v 3 Sheets-Shes Filed July 13 WITNESSESSATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 4, 1925.

UNITED STATES NATHAN M. LOWER, OF BELLEVUE, PENNSYLVANIA.

snare SHAKER.

Application filed July 13, 1921.

To aZZwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHA M. Lownn, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Bellevue, in the countyof Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have 1nvented a new and useful Improvement in GrateShakers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to grate shakers. More particularly it relates topower driven locon'iotive grate shakers.

The object of the invention is to provide means to rock the rate bars ofa locomotive upontheir axis, hrst in one direction, and then in theother, by means of a fluid pressure driven mechanism. Another object ofthe invention is to provide means to drive the grate bars so that theymay be fully tilted or rocked upon their axis, but at the same time toinsure the return of the grate bars to their normal horizontal plane,after the shaking or rocking operation is completed. Another object isto provide a mechanism by which the entire grate may be simultaneouslyshaken by a power drive, or any section, or any combination of sections,rocked without moving the other sections. Other objects and advantagesof the invention Will be apparent to those familiar with the art fromthe following specification.

Referring to the drawings Fig. 1 is a partial rear elevation of aportion of a locomotive, with an embodiment of the present inventionapplied thereto; Fig. 2 is a partial rear elevation at right angles tothe plane of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section through thedriving cylinder shown in end elevation in. Fig. 1, on the line III-J11of Fig. 4; 4: is alongitudinal partial section through the cylinder ofFig. 3 upon the line IV--IV of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section onthe line V-V of Fig. 3, showing the control valve mechanism; and Fig. 6is a central vertical section through a modified form of drivingcylinder.

Grate shakers have heretofore been provided for locomotives, in whichthepower was applied either by hand through suitable lever andconnecting means, or else by steam or compressed air, driving anordinary re.- ciprocating piston in a cylinder. The disadvantage ofthese two methods is as fol.- lows: y

l The cinders or clinkers become very hard and unite into a unitary massover the grate, which is so strong and coherent that it re- Serial No.484,303.

quires a strong force to raise the sides of the grate bar into orthrough it. Furthermore, after the grate bars have been tilted out ofthe horizontal plane towards the vertical plane, pieces of the clinker{all down between the grate bars, and to restore the grate bars to theirnormal horizontal plane the clinker which is caught between them must becrushed or sheared off. This requires a considerable amount of force,and very frequently when the hand operated shaker is used the fireman isunable to free the grate bars, and restore them to their normalposition, for this reason. Consequently he frequently leaves the gratebars in a tilted position with the result that coal and cinders thathave not been sufficiently burned may escape through the wide gaps leftbetween the grate bars. In addition the fingers of the grate bars whichare turned up into the fire box tend to burn ofl under the intense heatto which they are exposed. Furthermore, in these days of independence oflabor, firemen refuse to do the hard work required for shaking alocomotive grate by hand.

The power driven shakers heretofore provided have been of the type abovereferred to, namely driven by a horizontally reciprocating piston. lVithsuch a driving means it is necessary to connect the piston, or linksleading from it, to the grate bars in such a way that when the piston isat each end of its stroke the grate bars are tilted on edge, theirhorizontal position being at the middle of the stroke of the piston.Otherwise, if the piston be so connected that the grate bars arehorizontal at one end of its stroke, it is only possible'to tilt thebars in one direction by the use of the cylinder. This is of courseunsatisfactory, and such an arrangement has not been used to anymaterial extent. The result of such an arrangement is that in order tobring the grate bars back to horizontal position it is necessary to stoptl' e movement of the power driven piston in the middle of its stroke.That is a difficult thing to do, and in the power driven grate shakerswhich are now used it is no uncommon thing to see the fireman try liveor six times before he can catch the driving piston at the middle point,and shut off his steam J at the right time to bring the grate bars torest in the horizontal position. If he fails in this, and leaves thebars tilted, the fingers may be burned off.

The present invention is designed to obviate these difliculties byproviding a power driven mechanism, so arranged that the grate bars willbe turned down on one side from the horizontal, back up to thehorizontal, down on the other side, and back up to the horizontal, ateach stroke of the steam driven member. Consequently, no matter how manytimes the fireman may 'rock the grate bars with such a mechanism,

of the other sections, or all may be shaken together, as the fireman maydesire.

Furthermore, means are provided for bringing thegrates to rest in atilted position, as may bedesired at the round houses when the'lireboxis being cleaned out by breaking up and removing the clinkers throughthe grate.

Referring to Fig. l of the drawings, a portion of the the box wall 1 ofthe loco motive is shown with the ordinary water spaces 2 and outer wall3, with anopening 4 for the fire door above. 48. series of standardgrate bars 5 are shown. As will be readily understood these barsconsist. of central transverse shafts 6 having laterally extendingfinger portions 7 and 8, as is usual in locomotive constructions. Eachof the bars is provided with an underside exten sion 9 and theseextensions are all pinned to a connecting link or bar 10, extendinglongitudinally of the engine underneath the grate. To this link 10 thereis pivotally attached another link 11, which extends to and is pivotallyattached to the lower end 12 of a lever member 13 which is pivotallymounted near its middle point upon a shaft 14, which extends only partway across the locomotive. The upper end 15 of the lever member 13 istapered, and is adapted to receive and engage the open end 16 of ahandle member 17. This arrangement so far described is the ordinary onefor shaking the grate bars 5 by hand. mien the upper end of the levermember 17 is moved forward and back, the link ll will be longitudinallyreciprocated, and consequently,

through the link 10, the grate bars 5 will be rocked upon theiraxialshafts 6, causing the fingers 7 and 8 to be alternately 'raised andlowered out of the normal horizontal plane of the top of the grate bars.This construction is old, and is not in itself a part of my invention. Iprefer to use it in addition to my power driven apparatus since it isde- Any section.

sirable to have alwaysavailable means for hand operation of the shaker.

For the purpose of rocking the grate bars 5 by power, I provide a rotaryfluid-pressure driven motor, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, and morein detail in Figs. 3 and 4.. This comprises a cylinder 20 having acentral axial shaft 21, upon which is keyed a sleeve 22, carrying a vane23, which extends outward from the sleeve 22 to the inner wall of thecylinder 20, and which carries in its outer edges packing members 24,designed to provide a fluid-tight contact between the vane and thecylinder walls. Near the top of the cylinder, on its interior wall,there is a radially extending wedge-shaped partition 26 The inner edgeof the partition 26 carries a packing member 27 which makes fluid-tightcontact with the sleeve 22, so preventing escape of fluid pressuretherebetween. This partition also furnishes a fixed stop fortheoscillatory vane 23, and positively limits its travel in eitherdirection.

At one end of the cylinder 20 a valve casing'30 is provided. This hastwo passages'3'1 and'32 leading int'othe cylinder 20,

on the left and right side respectively of the partitioning member 26. Avalve member 35' is adapted to slide in the chamber 36 formed within thecasing 30. This valve has a piston head member 37 at one end and asimilar piston head member 38 at the other, with a body portion 39between, which is cut away so as to leave a passage 40 entirely aroundthe valve body between the two piston heads 37 and 38. A shoulder 41 isprovided on'the interior of the bore of the valve casing, so as to limitthe forward travel of the valve member to the position shown in dottedlines, at the right of Fig. 5. The other end of the valve casing isclosed by a removable head 42 which car ries an inwardly extendingflange 43, forming a similar limiting shoulder to prevent rearwardmovement of the valve beyond the position in which it is illustrated inFig. 5. Exhaust ports 45 and 46 are provided extending into thevalvechamber 36, at each end, beyond the limits of travel of the valve memberin the chamber. An inlet ort 47 is connected to a fluid pressure supp ypipe 48, controlled by a. globe valve 49. The slidable valve -member 39is attached to a stem or connecting rod 50 which has a handle, or loop,51 at its free end.

When the valve 49is open and fluid pressure is supplied through pipe 48,by pulling the sliding valve 39 to the position illustrated in Fig. 5,pressure will be admitted through port 47, will pass around the valvebody 39, through the passage 31, and into the cylinder 20, on the leftside of the partition 26 but on theright side'of the oscillatory vane 99This will drive that vane counter-clockwise until it turns around to theposition shown in dotted lines at the right of Fig. 3. Its furthertravel will be positively limited by abutment against the partitioningmember 26. Then the valve 39 may be shoved forward into the positionshown in dotted lines in Fig. 5. This will leave the passage 31 free toexhaust fluid pressure from the cylinder 20 through the exhaust port 16,and at the same time steam from the supply pipe 18 will pass throughpassage 32 into the main cylinder, on the right side of partition 26 buton the left side of the oscillatory vane 23, which will be drivenclockwise until it returns to the position shown in full lines in Fig.3.

The construction just above described is that of an ordinary oscillatoryengine, and a standard reversing valve controlling mechanism for it, anddoes not itself constitute .my invention. The motor and its valvearrangement are merely elements going to make up the combination.

The shaft 21 upon which the oscillatory vane 23 is keyed extends throughthe end walls of the cylinder 20, and has suitable bearings at each end.Keyed on its end it carries a large gear 60, which meshes with a smallergear 61, which is mounted upon a shaft 62, carried by the locomotiveframe. Attached to the gear 61 is an arm 63. The outer end of this armhas a flattened head portion 6 1, through which are provided a pluralityof holes 65, each adapted to receive a connecting pin 66, adapted toretain the flattened end 67 of a connecting link 68, the other end ofwhich is pivotally connected to a sleeve member 70, slidably mountedupon an extension 71 from a sleeve member 7 5 which is keyed on the endof shaft 14, above described. The sleeve member has a rearward extension7 2 through which extends a threaded screw member 73, which is rotatablymounted in a rearward extension 7 L from the member above described. Theupper portion of the screw 73 carries a laterally extending handleportion 76, by which the screw may be rotated, in order to raise orlower the sleeve 70 on its shaft 71.

By this mechanism, when the vane of the oscillatory motor is turnedthrough its half cycle, the gear 61 which is slightly smaller than thegear 60, will be turned through a complete revolution. Consequently thelink 68 will have been moved through two complete reciprocations, thatis, back and forward, and forward and back, at each revolution of gear61. The order of these movements of course depends upon the direction ofmovement of gear 60-, which is driven alternately in oppositedirections. The link 68 and arm 71 are connected through member 75 tothe shaft 14, and consequently at each complete movement of the vane 23the shaft 14 will be rocked in each direction, and when the lever member13 is attached to the shaft as below described the links 11 and 10 willbe given a forward movement, a return to original position, a backwardmovement and a return to original position at each half-cycle of themotor. That is to say the grate bars will be tilted backward, thenrestored to horizontal, then tilted forward and again restored tohorizontal at each actuation of the oscillatory motor. Having turnedpressure into the supply pipe 48, it is only necessary for the firemanto pull the valve control stem 51 backward, whereupon the gratescontrolled by the link 10 will be put through a complete rockingmovement in both directions and returned to horizontal position. Byshoving the valve stem forward the movement will be repeated, and so on.After each movement of the valve stem the operator will of course allowsufficient time for the completion of the movement, and thereafter byreversing the valve stem movement he repeats the rocking of the grate,and so on as many times as desired, without any manual labor other thanreversal of the valve.

It will be understood that in the ordinarv locomotive the grate bars arebuilt in several sections. That is to say a number of grate bars aremounted end to end, with intermediate bearings, in order to form thegrate entirely across the locomotive fire box. In the drawings herewiththere is illustrated a locomotive having four sets of grate bars. Thesemay be shaken independently, or in any combination, or all together, bythe mechanism provided and now to be described.

In Fig. 1, one set of grate bars, and the driving connections thereforare illustrated. The lever member 13 and its connecting rods 11 and 10are repeated for each of the sets of grate bars provided. For example,in Fig. 2, the mechanism for controlling four sets of grate bars isindicated. The mechanism of F 1 is shown at the left of Fig. 2.

The shaft 14 is mounted in suitable bearings and 81, and does not extendbeyond the latter bearing. The lever member 13 is mounted upon the shaft14 with a bearing portion 77, and is normally free on the shaft.Likewise the similar lever member 13 is mounted by a bearing 7 7 on theshaft 14, and is normally free on that shaft. This lever member has anextension 12 pivotally attached to a driving link 11, which in turn isconnected to a link similar to that marked 10 in Fig. 1, which isattached to a second section of grate bars. Movement back and forward ofthe lever member 13 actuatesthe second section grates, exactly as abovedescribed, for the first section, as will be readily understood.

Between the bearings 77 and 77 there is mounted a sleeve member which.is rigidly attached to the shaft 14 by means of a key 86. On the upperside of the member 85 there is an integral extension 87, thetop of whichhas a longitudinal groove or channel extending there-across; Pivotally'mounted in slots through thebodies of the lever members 13 and 13 aretrip dogs having external ends 88 and 88 lying on the outer sides of thetwo levers. "The other ends of the dogs, 89 and 89, he on the innersidesof the levers, and are adapted to fall into and be engaged'by thetransversechannel or groove 90 acrossthe top of the extension 87, abovereferred to. Y f v These dogs are made'so that they will be held bygravity in either the raised position indicated by the dotted lines atthe left of Fig. 2, or in the lower position as indicated 7 at the rightof that figure. lVhen in the is driven."

lower position they lock the 'levers to the member 85 which is fixed onthe shaft 1 1.

As will be seen at the left of Fig. 2 when the handles are manuallyoperated and the shaker handle 17 is placed in position, the,

lower end thereof will strike and push down the outer body portion 88 ofthe trip dog, thus releasing the inner end 89 from the slot 90, andleaving the lever member 13 free to be independently operated by hand,since it will then turn freely on the shaft 1%. However, when the handle17 is removed, the fireman can by simply shoving the inner end 89 of thedogdown into position, lock the lever to the sleeve 85, so that it canonly be moved in connection with rotation of the shaft 1 1. By thismeans the two operating levels 13 and 13 may be individually locked toor released from the shaft or may be locked together to the shaft, sothat they will operate in unison, and only'when theshaft At the right ofFig. 2 an arrangement is shown which is exactly similar in all respectsto the mechanism which has been described in' detail and illustrated atthe left of Fig. 2,'except that the rotary engine is not repeated, thedriven shaft 62 extending entirely across,'and driving the grate shakingmechanism on both sides.

A separate shaft 1 1 ismounted in bearings 80 and 81 corresponding'tothe bearings 80 and 81 of shaft 14 on the left. Lever inembers 13 and 13correspond respectively to members 13 and 13 These are mounted onbearing members 77 and 77,

respectively. Trip dogs for'lockingthe le- 'vers 13 and 13 are provided.These have external ends 88 88 89 and 8 9 corresponding respectively tothe elements 88, 88, 8'9, and 89, above described at the left of thefigure. These dogs cooperate with a groove 90 in thesleeve member 85which is fastened by a key 86 to a shaft 1 11 The levers 13 and 13 havelower extensions 12 and 12 respectively.

'By the construction illustrated and described obviously the fireman canconnect any section of his grate bars to the driven shafts 14 and 141*,by means of the trip dog arrangementabove described. Consequently hecan, through the oscillatory motor drive any section of the grate barsby itself, or any two, or any. three, or all four." Likewise, he canoperate any section independently by hand, just as'has heretofore beendone. l

By means of the adjusting screw/73, the point of connection of the link(38 on the arm 71 may be moved to any desired distance from the shaft14:, in order to lengthen or shorten the stroke of the grate shakingmembers. A further adjustment is provided by means of the holes inthedriving arm 63. By use of the two together a very fine adjustment may bemade, to tilt the bars to any desired angle, and to adjust a standardshaker to different forms and sizes of locomotives. p

In Fig. 6 I have illustrated driving means for the gear 61 comprising anordi" nary cylinder and reciprocating piston rack 90, which is adaptedto give the gear 61 a complete revolution at each stroke of the piston.This wouldresult in bringing the grate bars back to horizontal positionafter having rockedthem in both directions. It will be understood thatsuitable connections, similar to those above described would be providedfrom the driving arm 63 with this construction.

7 For purposes of cleaning the firebox at the round house it isdesirable to be able to tilt the grate bars on edge and hold them therewhile cinders are raked out between them. Since the mechanism abovedescribed is especially designed to bring the bars to rest in horizontalposition, in order to stop them in tilted position I provide two ports100 and 101 which may be controlled by hand valves 102 and 103, in theends-of the cylinder 20, or may have pipes running to any desired pointas-for example to the cab of a locomotive so that the fireman maycontrol the ports 100 and 101 from the cab. I may provide a series ofsuch valves around the cylinder so as to be able to stop the powerstroke at any desired point in its cycle of normal movement. When eitherof the valves 102 or103 opened it will release fluid pressure behind thevane 23, and therefore that member will stop as soon as itpasses theopen. valve. This is in the tilted position of the grates, and leavesthem in proper position for cleaning the firebox; i a

It will be understood that a number of modifications of mechanicaldetails in the driving and control mechanisms may be made withoutchanging the function of the combination. For example an electric motorwith knockout switches might be substituted for the rotary fluid drivenmotor here shown.

I claim:

1. A grate shaker for locomotives, comprising a series of rockablymounted grate bars normally maintained at rest with their upper surfacesin the same plane, a power driving mechanism connected to the grate barsand arranged to tilt them first on one side and then on the other, and apositive 'predetermined halfcycle in one direction and then in reversedirection through an equal half-cycle, a positive stop member limitingtravel of the driving mechanism at the end of each half-cycle movementthereof, whereby ateach actuation of the driving mechanism the gratebars are rocked and restored to normal position.

3. A. grate shaker for locomotives comprising a series of rockablymounted grate bars normally maintained rest with their upper surfaceslying in a common plane, a power driving mechanism connected to thegrate bars and adapted to move through a predetermined half-cycle in onedirection and then in reverse direction through an equal half-cycle,manual control means c011- nected to the driving mechanism for puttingit in motion after completion of each halfcycle, apositive stop memberlimiting travel of the driving mechanism at the end of each movementthereof, whereby at each actuation of the driving mechanism the gratebars are rocked and restored to normal position.

at. A grate shaker for locomotives, comrising aseries of rockablymounted grate ars normally maintained at rest with their upper surfacesin a common plane, a power driving mechanism connected to the grate barsand adapted to rock them, and a positive stop member limiting movementof the driving mechanism to a predetermined halfcycle movement in onedirection and a halfcycle reverse movement, said stop being sopositioned that the grate bars are restored to normal position at theend of each complete half-cycle movement of the driving mechanism.

5. A grate shaker for locomotives, comprising a series of rockablymounted grate bars normally maintained at rest with their upper surfacesin a common plane, apower driving mechanism connected to the grate barsand adapted to rock them, said mechanism being arranged to move througha halfcycle in one direction and then a half-cycle in reverse direction,manual control means connected to the driving mechanism and adapted toset it in motion at the beginning of each half-cycle movement thereof,and a positive stop member limiting movement of the driving mechanism inthe two predetermined half-cycles in opposite directions, said stopbeing so positioned that the grate bars are restored to normal positionat the end of each complete half-cycle movement of the drivingmechanism.

6. A grate shaker for locomotive-s, comprising a series of rockablymounted grate bars normally maintained at rest with their upper surfacesin the same plane, a power driving mechanism connected to the grate barsand arranged to tilt them first on one side and then on the other, and apositive stop member limiting the driving mechanism to a predeterminedmovement at each actuation, said movement being of such extent as torestore the grate bars to rest in their normal common plane at the endof the movement.

7. In a locomotive grate shaker wherein a fluid pressure driven memberis adapted to rock the grates and then restore them to normal levelposition at each complete movement of the driven member, the combinationwith a fluid pressure chamber having the driven member therein ofmanually controllable valves governing ports in the chamber wall,whereby to permit escape of pressure from the chamber at predeterminedpositions of the driven member to stop the driven member in position toleave the grate bars in tilted position.

In testimony whereof, I sign my name.

NATHAN M. LOWER.

Witnesses B. GRAYSE BATEMAN, NINA M. BRANDT.

